A Third of Fish Species in China River Extinct!
posted in Animal Species, Latest News, Pollution |
According to the Chinese government, officials reported that this week more than 30 percent of fish species in the Yellow River have become extinct. “There used to be more than 150 species of fish living in the Yellow River, but one-third have disappeared for good,” an unnamed Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) official said.
This huge fall in the numbers of the fish is being caused due to disruptive dams, pollution and other such environmental disasters. “Overfishing, persistent dumping, and hydropower projects along the river have degraded the underwater ecological environment,” he said.
According to the estimates of the Chinese government, 66 percent of the Yellow River’s water is so polluted that it is undrinkable. Jennifer Turner, head of the China Environment Forum at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C., said that the river’s fouled waters mirror a nationwide problem that threatens wildlife as well as human health.
“The Yellow River is the Mother River,” Turner said, referring to the waterway’s role as the cradle of northern Chinese civilization.”If the Mother River is sick, that’s a major indication of the whole problem of China’s inability to protect water resources.”
The government says that around 70 percent of the country’s rivers and lakes could be seriously polluted. River Running Dry The Yellow River is China’s second longest after the Yangtze, which flows for around 3,400 miles (5,500 kilometers) from the arid Qinghai-Tibet plateau to the Bo Hai inlet of the Yellow Sea.
According to the officials, decrease in rainfall is the real cause for drop in the levels of water in the river. If there is climate change along with that then it can make the problem worse. Humans are one of the reason, as they remove unlimited gallons of water from the river for the growing population, farmlands, and factories around the banks of this river.
“The problem has been rapid development of the whole basin over the past 25 years,” Turner said. During 2006 the levels of the river had fallen to a new low. It has increased the amo8nt of pollutions levels. “Dilution is a solution for pollution,” Turner said. An influx of fresh water would help lessen the concentration of pollutants in the river. “So the river’s drying up has really been a double whammy for the fish populations.”
Even though the extinct fish species are gone forever, others can be saved if the river water is cleaned.